The Libyan Civil War*: Critical Views Jihad in the service of McWorld.
* The Libyan Regime-Change Campaign and Naqba of 2011 was never a "civil war" (early and poor name choice) and is no longer the sole subject of this site (see here)

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Warning: This site contains images and graphic descriptions of extreme violence and/or its effects. It's not as bad as it could be, but is meant to be shocking. Readers should be 18+ or a mature 17 or so. There is also some foul language occasionally, and potential for general upsetting of comforting conventional wisdom. Please view with discretion.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Al Qaeda's Flag Over Benghazi

October 31, 2011last updates Sept. 12, 2012

Bumped Sept. 12 in response to the news of the US envoy to Libya's killing during Salafi protests, and roughly on the anniversary of 9/11 to boot.
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Happy Halloween, everyone. You want something spooky? As usual, you can find something to fit the bill here.How about the flag of al Qaeda in Iraq being flown surreptitiously above the flag of new Libya, over the NTC headquarters-cum-capitol building in Benghazi?Via Libya S.O.S., a video and a story from Vice.com.

... [A]ccording to multiple eyewitnesses—myself included—one can now see both the Libyan rebel flag and the flag of al Qaeda fluttering atop Benghazi’s courthouse.
[...]
According to one Benghazi resident, Islamists driving brand-new SUVs and waving the black al Qaeda flag drive the city’s streets at night shouting, "Islamiya, Islamiya! No East, nor West," a reference to previous worries that the country would be bifurcated between Gaddafi opponents in the east and the pro-Gaddafi elements in the west.

Earlier this week, I went to the Benghazi courthouse and confirmed the rumors: an al Qaeda flag was clearly visible; its Arabic script declaring that “there is no God but Allah” and a full moon underneath. When I tried to take pictures, a Salafi-looking guard, wearing a green camouflage outfit, rushed towards me and demanded to know what I was doing. My response was straightforward: I was taking a picture of the flag. He gave me an intimidating look and hissed, "Whomever speaks ill of this flag, we will cut off his tongue. I recommend that you don't publish these. You will bring trouble to yourself.”

He followed me inside the courthouse, but luckily my driver Khaled was close by, and interceded on my behalf. According to Khaled, the guard had angrily threatened to harm me. When I again engaged him in conversation, he told me "this flag is the true flag of Islam," and was unresponsive when I argued with him that historically Islam has never been represented by a single flag. The guard claimed repeatedly that there is no al Qaeda in Libya, and that the flag flying atop the courthouse is “dark black,” while the al Qaeda flag is charcoal black.

Update Nov 1:
Reader Peet73 alerts me the same flag can be seen in a demonstration last Friday in Benghazi. The New York Times made no mention of the flags, but showed a photo with at least five of them, the most common one carried, per that image. The demonstration was in support of extremist Sharia law, particularly to support the Jibril/NTC stance on marriage (no-consent polygamy, rescinding of female-friendly divorce laws). How their terrorist flag wound up atop the main courthouse (the same spot as the famous Benghazi beheading, by the way) is a puzzle that was bound to make news. In fact:Digital JournalFox News (readers vote it "scary")Daily Caller: "A CNN report on Saturday [the 29th] showed al-Qaida’s black flag flying over the Benghazi courthouse, which was one of the rebellion’s starting points."
The CNN video, submitted to them, is the one shown above.

The appearance of the al-Qaeda flag over the Benghazi courthouse has been generally spun by commentators in the Western media as a sign that Islamic extremists are now rushing to fill the “vacuum” left by the fall of the ancien régime in Libya. But the Echorouk report and the accompanying photo indicate that anti-Qaddafi forces in fact fought under the “Islamic Caliphate” banner in the decisive battle of the rebellion.

Only one or the other flag can be flown, apparently, and it was this one. So see, these aren't bad guys. That other black (bad) flag of Islamist extremists helped them to lay siege to Sirte and mop up afterwards. Far from a troublesome symbol of Islamist terrorist war criminals, the AQ/Emirates flag is now just another way of saying "FREEEEEDOOOOMMM!"

But reader Sam 1 alerts me, in comments below, new video (if not a new procession) of rebel fighting vehicles in Sirte flying the same al Qaeda flag with the full moon. The occupants of those vehicles are all disguised too, like bank robbers or snuff film makers. Was this from October, during the slaughter, or more recently, to mop up again inside the shattered and scattered onetime "capitol of the resistance?"

Others think it's possibly new. ABC News (US) has picked up the story, saying these are "police" vehicles." Similar processions have been seen in Tripoli. Ibrahim Dabbashi says:

But the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations, Ibrahim Dabbashi, told ABC News that the video is not what it seems. Libyan brigades have flown similar flags in the past and, when questioned about them, the brigade commanders always said they were simply the "flag of the Prophet Muhammad," Dabbashi said.

"These brigades have no relation whatsoever with al Qaeda," he said. "There are no al Qaeda elements in Libya."

46 comments:

Happy Halloween, dear;) I found some additional Information not presented by Vice.com or Libya S.O.S but by the New York Times:<br

Accordingly there was a rally of "several hundreds" Islamists in Benghazi on Friday, who were calling for sharia and polygamy and other wonderful things. As the photo presented by the NYT shows, several al-Qaeda flags were carried in that rally. Most probably one of those flags was raised on the courthouse later on and stayed there for at least some days.

"Both the liwaa and riyaa of the islamic state say the exact same thing, "la ilaha il ALLAH". Clearly, their flags must say "there is no GOD but NATO". [...] the white flag of the "islamic state" existed in the times of Prophet Muhammad.﻿ The "rayaa", black flag is a flag of war, of islamic jihad."

http://www.libyaherald.com/libyan-qatari-company-to-build-homes-for-young-libyans/Libyan-Qatari Company to build homes for young Libyans

The newly-formed Libyan-Qatari Holding Company (LQC) has bought land in a number of Libyan towns and cities to build housing projects aimed at the younger Libyan market.

According to the company’s director-general, Wahid Barshan, the company “will start to build during the coming few days, units for the Libyan youths, particularly those with low wages as a first phase. We also plan to invest in regional hospitals and medical centers in smaller towns.”

The company, with $100 million capital, was formed in February by Qatari busineesman Ghanim Bin Saad and a number of Libyan businessmen. The latter have a 40-percent share.

Speaking in Tripoli last week, Barshan has said there would be 11 subsidiaries in the new company. These would focus on construction and reconstruction projects, food industries, petrochemical industries, telecommunications, health, education, hotels and tourism, and oil services. It plans to partner with international companies in the various sectors.

AL QAEDA'S LEADER BELHADJ FORMING A POLITICAL PARTY: Hizb el Watn will be called the Abdul Hakim Belhadj's political party with the backing of Ali Sallabi. 'Hizb el Watn" will be formally announced on 16th April after 3 day conference in Tripoli. Speachless..https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=373003339406449&id=297509086955875http://tibidy.com/tags/belhadj/jibril/137275/96126

NTC, far fr being govt for all Libyans, is a Benghazi organisation bent on grabbing power.http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0902/1224303347313.html

Three sons of Mohamed al-Sallabi, who had been among the founding members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Benghazi during the 1960s, have emerged as important players during the revolution. Ali al-Sallabi, an influential Islamist scholar closely affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, has repeatedly directed fierce attacks in the media against leading NTC representatives, including Mahmoud Jibril. His brother Ismail is one among several key leaders of revolutionary brigades in Benghazi and has also called for the NTC’s cabinet to step down. Another brother, Usama, has attacked former members of the regime on the NTC during sermons attended by thousands in Benghazi.http://themoornextdoor.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/lacher-on-the-social-bases-of-activity-in-the-libyan-revolution/

That'saspooky video. It's not obvious just from the footage that this is new, or part of the slaughter last year, where the flag was reported and large forces were needed. This part of the city looks pretty intact, and as we know, little of it was after late October.

Either way, we see numerous trucks carrying what looks like that flag. Charcoal black or dark black? One clues is all those in the vehicles flying it (several in the middle, but not the rest) are disguised with ski masks or bags over their evil little heads.

I hope this isn't new. This kind of force brought into a place as already shattered and scattered as Sirte ... Alexandra is talking about a violent reaction, but if so, this looks prepared to not only provoke but to overwhelm that. Rile' em up, flush 'em out, take 'em in. The UNHRC even gave it's rubber stamp to continued arbitrary detentions, so maybe they decided to go make it industrial scale.

The video is new, the title translates to "Penitential Qaeda and I saw them in black walked the streets of 23/03/2012." Sirte is not really that much destroyed, apart from Dubai Street.

What I would really like to see in the US or Europe is a "THANK YOU NATO" demonstration replicating this scenery. The antiwar movement should bring out their pickups and paint them in rebel rat colors. Driving down Pennsylvania Avenue with mock-up AA-guns mounted on the back and a-Qaeda flags flying could really drive home the message of Libyan "liberation."

There are two labels on the cars. On the doors there is an emblem of some rebel brigade. Not very clear and I am not an expert on rebel brigades. On the windows there is an al-Qaeda symbol, the black al-Qaeda flag in the shape of the map of Libya – similar to the use of the rebel "independence flag" we have seen earlier.

I tried to look for one on the internet, but could not find anything. Someone should make a copy. This would be a very potent symbol for both sides of the argument.

Al Qaeda and extremist gangs in Sirte organized a large military parade on Friday, roaming the streets of the devastated city of Sirte and honking the horns of their cars which carry the well known black banner of al Qaeda.

He began this review as if it announced a clear and public about the emergence of this organization on the land of Libya, and the presence of the the al-Qaeda affiliated Mokhtar Belmokhtar.

It is noteworthy that this organization is led by "Order of Hamid" ("وسام حميد") of the city of Derna, and at the age of 35 years and works under his command units, very large in the Middle Libya to Kufra in the south, east and west to Sirte and Jufrah Finally battalion" Ahmed Abdul Jalil Abu Derbala "at the base of Barak air Valley Aattab the beach, where the latter longitudinal arm in the south of Libya and the reason for many of the smuggling of arms and ammunition to the organization is sitting in the Islamic Maghreb in the Sahara.

Many local sources confirm that Ben Mokhtar Mokhtar, the second man in the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb was in their hospitality in the previous days.

**** Benghazi: New cars without licence plates emerged on the streets. They are in red color with black strap.The logo on the car doors says: Ministry of Interior (Combating Negative Phenomenons).

Each car is seated by 4 persons, with long ugly beards, resembling Al Qaeda. They are armed.Source: https://www.facebook.com/truthaboutlibyaa

Libyan rejection of Muslim Brotherhood leaders is obvious from destruction of their propaganda material around cities, but they still continue to advertise themselves...Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=425747614118572&set=a.217452284948107.69715.217308438295825&type=1&theaterhttp://libyasos.blogspot.com/2012/04/libyan-resistance-news-02042012.html#more

the Network of Free Ulema called for full rebellion against Libya http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/TPV3/Voices.php/2011/06/11/going-rogue-nato-war-crimes-in-libyahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_of_Free_Ulema_%E2%80%93_Libya

Sheikh Sadiq al-Gharyani (Libya):We call people to support the Free Syrian Armyhttp://dhanaan.com/joint-declaration-on-syria-by-107-muslim-scholars-from-throughout-the-arab-world/

http://www.investorvillage.com/mbthread.asp?mb=4245&nhValue=630319&nmValue=630359&dValue=1&tid=10784096&showall=1Tentoush said that he and 12 other progressive Imams were traveling to Benghazi to discuss a peaceful end to the conflict. They stopped for tea at a guest house in Brega--- and NATO dropped a bomb right on top of them, killing 11 of the 13 Imams, who had embraced Islamic reforms that empower women's rights and modernity.

Tunisia's consulate in Benghazi, second large Libyan city, has been stormed on Monday evening by salafi groups, reports the chargé d'affaires in Tripoli Mohamed Ben Ayed, contacted over the telephone from Tunis.

The Tunisian flag has been removed from the top of the building, the same source said, adding that "these groups were protesting against an art exhibition in Tunisia insulting Islam."

According to the Foreign Ministry, "a group of about 30 armed gunmen staged a sit-in in front of Tunisia's consulate in Benghazi and then stormed it and removed the flag."

About 300 men carried computers and ballot boxes from the building in Libya's second city and began crushing them while chanting pro-federalism slogans, a Reuters correspondent at the scene said.http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/07/01/uk-libya-elections-idUKBRE8600H720120701

In southern Libya, a leader of Libya's Tabu tribe threatened to boycott the election if the government does not withdraw its forces and tanks from a southern desert city where clashes have killed dozens.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/libya-is-falling-prey-to-al-qaida/story-fnb64oi6-1226415013306Libya is falling prey to al-Qa'ida

The attack, on June 11, was not the first on Western interests suspected to have been carried out by al-Qa'ida affiliates in post-Gaddafi Libya.

THE British ambassador's car was 300m from the British consulate in Benghazi when a rocket-propelled grenade hit i. The armoured vehicle and the ambassador, Dominic Asquith, survived, but two protection officers were injured.

A journalist from the Algerian newspaper Echorouk reported seeing a number of anti-Qaddafi fighters at Sirte "wearing Afghani cloaks and … holding the black banners and flags of 'There is no God but Allah and Mohammad is his messenger,’ the Islamic Caliphate flag."

One of the military commanders of the rebellion, Abdul Hakim al-Hasadi, has admitted to personally recruiting many of the Libyan al-Qaeda members. -> http://uruknet.info/?p=m82762&hd

In Benghazi, in front of the very courthouse McCain and other representatives of the West’s corporate-financier driven foreign policy voiced support for Libya’s terror brigades, sectarian extremists took the streets waving the flag of Al Qaeda, even hoisting it atop the Benghazi courthouse itself.

Despite a concerted effort by Western media houses to portray Libya as in the hands of progressive democratic secularists, the country was intentionally handed over to extremists to serve as a base of militancy to destabilize and destroy targets of Western interest around the word.….

The men McCain was defending were Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) militants, terrorists linked directly with Al Qaeda according to West Point reports (.pdf), and listed to this day by the US State Department, the UK Home Office (.pdf), and the UN as a “foreign terrorist organization.” McCain was not only rhetorically supporting listed terrorists, but calling for material support including weapons, funds, training, and air support in direct violation of USC § 2339A & 2339B, “providing material support or resources to designated foreign terrorist organizations.”

These same terrorists are now not only the defacto rulers of much of Libya, but are leading death squads in Syria and arming militants in Mali, an exponential expansion made possible by a non-partisan effort including Republicans and Democrats, as well as Bush-era Neo-Conservatives who concurrently lead both anti-Islam propaganda while leading calls to arm the most radical sectarian extremist groups, including groups directly affiliated with Al Qaeda.

April 24, 2011 Today, Mr. Qumu, 51, is a notable figure in the Libyan rebels’ fight to oust Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, reportedly a leader of a ragtag band of fighters known as the Darnah Brigade for his birthplace, this shabby port town of 100,000 people in northeast Libya.

The former enemy and prisoner of the United States is now an ally of sorts, a remarkable turnabout resulting from shifting American policies rather than any obvious change in Mr. Qumu.

“The Libyan Government considers detainee a ‘dangerous man with no qualms about committing terrorist acts,’ ” says the classified 2005 assessment, evidently quoting Libyan intelligence findings, which was obtained by The New York Times. “ ‘He was known as one of the extremist commanders of the Afghan Arabs,’ ” the Libyan information continues, referring to Arab fighters who remained in Afghanistan after the anti-Soviet jihad.

When that Guantánamo assessment was written, the United States was working closely with Colonel Qaddafi’s intelligence service against terrorism.

Now, the United States is a leader of the international coalition trying to oust Colonel Qaddafi — and is backing with air power the rebels, including Mr. Qumu.

The classified Guantánamo assessment of Mr. Qumu claims that he suffered from “a non-specific personality disorder” and recounted — again citing the Libyan government as its source — a history of drug addiction and drug dealing and accusations of murder and armed assault.

Nonetheless, in 2007, he was sent from Guantánamo to Libya and released the next year in an amnesty for militants.

However, images released in the hours after the attack show Stevens’ body being paraded around by a mob. The body appears to show signs of torture.

Subsequent reports speculated that Stevens’ car was attacked as he and the three other personnel attempted to escape from the Consulate. The other embassy staff were shot while Stevens’ died of “suffocation,” suggesting he was lynched and physically attacked by the mob.

The incident is being portrayed by the establishment media as a reaction to a film produced in the United States that purportedly ridicules Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.

However, the wider issue of how the 2011 bombardment of Libya paved the way for gangs of militant Islamic extremists, once backed by NATO powers with heavy weapons, to fill the power vacuum left by Colonel Gaddafi, has been largely ignored.

Indeed, it’s a horrific irony that Hillary Clinton’s infamous gloating about Gaddafi’s execution - “We came, we saw, he died” - has now come full circle,

The black flag (the banner of the eagle) does not, of course, belong solely to al-Qaeda or even to Islamic radicalism. It has become a commonplace symbol used by those who want a more robust Islamic presence in the public sphere as well as by those who want to live under an Islamic theocracy.

*For a decade, the US government, under Bush and now Obama, has used the terrorist actions of Al Qaeda and its alleged supporters as a pretext for one military intervention after another in the Muslim world—Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, the Philippines, Indonesia and now Libya. http://www.globalresearch.ca/mounting-evidence-of-cia-ties-to-libyan-rebels/

Intellectuals such as Fathi Terbil, Terbil Salwa and Idris al-Mesmari joined a platform to bring justice not only to the families of the slain in 2006, but also for the families of those members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) and others who were massacred in Abu Salim prison in 1996.

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFHP-sdAcMMBenghazi , 17-2-2006, Italian consulate set on fire with molotov cocktails, demanding to free LIFG members with a jihad past.A clash with security forces followed with victims on both sides

*

14 sept 2012 Tunisia: US marine snipers deploy over the building of the American Embassy http://bit.ly/OuNYw2

/After Cairo and Benghazi, the American flag was replaced by a black flag in Tunis. #SalafiRevo?

According to CNN, another suspect group is called the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades.

This group claimed responsibility for an attack on the International Red Cross office in Benghazi in May and an explosion outside the U.S. consulate in June.

Omar Abdul Rahman, aka the “Blind Sheikh,” is serving a life sentence in a U.S. prison for his leading role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a follow-on plot to blow up New York City landmarks. *In neighboring Egypt, the assault on the U.S. embassy was not deadly as in Libya, but it was sinister nonetheless. Shortly after an al Qaeda-style flag was hoisted in place of the Stars and Stripes, some noticed that Mohammed al Zawahiri was on the scene. He is the younger brother of Ayman al Zawahiri, the head of al Qaeda since Osama bin Laden was killed in May 2011. After spending more than a decade in an Egyptian prison, Mohammed al Zawahiri was suddenly freed in March.*Ayman al Zawahiri also offered to exchange an American captive named Warren Weinstein, who is being held by al Qaeda, for the Blind Sheikh.

Benghazi residents hold Italian, British, French, American, Qatari and Libyan rebel flags outside the city’s main courthouse on April 13, 2011, as a sign of gratitude and support for Western intervention.

The presence of U.S. soldiers might invite aggression from many anti-American Libyan elements — some of whom the U.S. may have just trained a year earlier.

It would be a lie to say that the situation that came to pass on September 11 in Benghazi — where months earlier an al Qaida flag was flown above a courthouse regarded to be the seat of the Libyan Revolution — is not a major political problem for Hillary Clinton’s boss.

"You may have heard the last words of the terrorist chief," Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told reporters. "He gave the order for all the foreigners to be killed, so there was a mass execution, many hostages were killed by a bullet to the head."

*

many LIFG members fought side by side with Algerian Jihadis, some of whom would later play key roles in helping to establish the Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group (GIA).41

*

A recent UN Security Council report showed that a convoy interceptedin Niger had large quantities of Semtex explosives and 445 detonators. Authorities say they were meant for AQIM camps in northern Mali.

The report claims the explosives came from Libyan militarystockpiles.45

Another report claimed a leading Jihadi close to Al Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri arrived in the Libyan territories, forming a militia of some 200 men.46

- The Tripoli Massacres {masterlist} - probably over 1,200 victims revealed so far. Several grisly crime scenes across loyalist Tripoli, all tallied to my ability at the main link, many expanded in posts linked there.

- Sub-post: Abu Salim Trauma "Hospital"Of special importance among these is this bloody and "mysterious" episode. At least 75 victims (perhaps 200 or more).

- Sub-post: The Khamis Brigade Shed Massacre (the one with 53 charred skeletons). Slower to come into focus, this one is shaping up as a sickening complex of barbarity and deceit. 106 victims now official, 51 survivors, perhaps about 150 or more really dead.

- The Sirte Massacres {masterlist} - At least 300 acknowledged so far, and a mass grave with well over 400... Numerous brazen mass-executions, torture, burning, mutilation, occurring in areas the rebels controlled.